Latino Daily News

Honduran Authorities Seize 4,600 Pounds of Cocaine

Honduran authorities seized 2,098 kilos (4,621 pounds) of cocaine being transported in one of three suspicious containers that arrived at Puerto Cortes aboard a ship from Colombia, an official said Thursday.

The inspection of the three containers was completed on Thursday morning and the drugs were found “in just one container,” the deputy police chief in Puerto Cortes, Alfredo Ponce, told reporters.

He added that the drug was being shipped to a company in San Pedro Sula, Honduras’ second city, located some 45 kilometers (28 miles) south of Puerto Cortes.

The 2,098 kilos of coke are presently being kept on the navy base in Puerto Cortes, Ponce said, but he did not mention whether anyone had been arrested.

He also said that the operation to seize the shipment was coordinated with authorities from Colombia and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

The Caribbean coast of Honduras is used by South American drug traffickers as a route for sending cocaine to the United States.

Honduras’ new president, Juan Orlando Hernandez, promised on Monday to implement a “zero tolerance” policy on drug trafficking and invited the United States to provide more aid earmarked for fighting the scourge.

U.S. reports indicate that at least 80 percent of the cocaine that arrives in Mexico from South America en route to the United States passes through Honduras, where authorities blame the drug trade for a good part of the country’s 20 daily homicides.